Hi John, thanks for the website. I’ve only looked at a bit of it rather hurriedly just now but hope to revisit it at some point in the future.

Sorry to hear that you lost your wife to MSA.

I lost my mum to it in 2010, aged 78. It was a rather rapid decline in the end (over 3-4 years) but the signs were quite a bit earlier, in hindsight. They diagnosed Parkinson’s – after initially diagnosing mild strokes, that impacted upon her balance, she had a fall or two prior.

It was a very sad way to see her lose the ability to do the very things that gave her purpose – cooking for people, writing them cards and other such things.

In the end I was somewhat relieved that she didn’t have to live in the unresponsive shell she ended up living in. I suspect that, even though she made approached her difficulties with a good deal of positivity, she was pleased that her increasingly difficult life had ended. She had experienced a lot of emotional pain during the years immediately prior to dying – the loss of my sister and father.

Anyway, thanks again for sharing your story… and Patricia’s and for the large amount of research you’ve done.
Regards,
Paul